Archives

The Europeans didn’t know what caused the bubonic plague, but had no trouble blaming the Jews. In the 14th century the bubonic plague ― known as the “Black Death” ― hit Europe. [...]

The Crusaders came to liberate the Holy Land from the “infidels” – and woe to any Jew who stood in their way. As long as the Byzantine (Eastern) Empire, with its seat in [...]

Early Christianity attracted those unwilling to take on all of Judaism’s precepts. The Jesus sect in Jerusalem remained small and was simply not spreading among the Jews. Indeed, it had [...]

At a time of cruel oppression, splinter sects spring up in belief that the apocalypse is at hand. The century and half that follows the completion of the Mishna corresponds to period in history [...]